I am, right now, completely alone; completely alone with Shelly-my car. I could drive anywhere. I could leave right now and tell no one where I am going. The world is my oyster. I have not been completely alone for a really long time. OK, that is not entirely true. I was home alone in NY right before we came back to Hawaii for a couple of days a week for about two weeks; alone with the dogs but with no transportation. I was stuck in the house. Today, both my guys were off but I was not. As a one car family, initially I was going to be dropped off at work, they were going to drive to Kahaluu to light the imu, come back into town to pick me up from work, go back to Kahaluu to put the pig in the imu, come back into town and get up the next morning to go to Kahaluu to take the pig out of the imu. I am tired just writing that. Keanu, realizing the ridiculous nature of this, asked his mom to come and pick up him and our son and take them to Kahaluu leaving me with my car. Then I pointed out that it might be a good idea for them to both sleep over in Kahaluu instead of having mom drive them back into town just to turn around and have to take my car and go back in the morning. That is the turn of events that has left me alone. I feel guilty that I don’t feel bad. I will admit that I miss my family (it is super quiet) and I will surely wander into my son’s bedroom at some point and wish that he was there snuggled into his bed.

What decadent things do mothers of seven year olds do when presented with an entirely responsibility free afternoon? Go to the movies. Not just any movie. A movie that you could never take your kid to. A movie that might even be, gasp, rated R. We also tend to eat really bad dinners that do not have a vegetable in sight. I had a giant thing of movie theater popcorn for dinner and for dessert I picked up some Weight Watcher ice cream and bottle of shiraz. It’s true. No role modeling for me today. I decided to go see The Descendants (thanks to the movie I now know how to spell that word) mostly because it was filmed here and there is Oscar buzz (I love the Oscars!) and then there is George Clooney. He is pretty easy on the eyes. So I go to see this movie alone with a giant container of popcorn with fake butter and added salt and a diet coke that held approximately ten gallons. It was pretty heavenly. The move is good. It is slow. It is a nice story. My favorite part was that it was just set here in Hawaii without it being all in your face about Hawaii. It was Hawaii like Hawaii is if you live in Hawaii. We don’t surf every day, or go to the beach every day or eat shave ice every day; we go to work and school and grocery shop. We do those other things too; just not all the time. Go see it, it is good.

Then I went to Safeway, the new magic Safeway by my house, for some wine. Because my evening is culminating in as many Battlestar Galactica episodes that I can stay up for while I suck down my bottle of wine. It is so funny to be out alone in the evening hours. I am rarely alone. There is a different vibe out there in the world when you are out and about on a Friday evening alone. You know what I’m talking about; it is just, in the air. I sensed it and it made me really glad that I wasn’t really single. That I was only pretending and that I would see my family tomorrow. I know that as much as I like this alone time I am having today; I also know that it would get old really quickly. Tomorrow we will all be together again, down the park. There will be some drinks, some fireworks and lots of aloha. I can’t wait.